PORTLAND—The comeback was valiant, but fell just short.

Friday afternoon at Fore River Fields, the surging Waynflete field hockey team hosted Traip Academy and couldn’t quite dig out of a deficit.

And as a result, the Flyers’ win streak has come to an end.

The Rangers struck quickly, scoring off a penalty corner less than five minutes into the game, as junior Cora Greenwood rattled the cage on a rebound.

The score remained 1-0 into the second half before Traip Academy doubled its lead with 3:20 left in the third period, as junior Noelle French set up junior Eden Varney for a breakaway goal.

And that score loomed large, as Waynflete got on the board with 8:13 to play, as senior captain Lucia Infantine scored from senior captain Sumeya Hussein.

The Flyers couldn’t muster the equalizer, however, and the Rangers went on to a 2-1 victory.

Traip Academy improved to 3-4, ended Waynflete’s win streak at three games and dropped the Flyers to 4-3 in the process.

“This team is really, really tough,” said Flyers coach Rowena Schenck. “They always go out there and hustle and sometimes it doesn’t go your way, but I’m proud of them.”

Resurgence 

Waynflete had a stand-alone field hockey program from 1976-86, then again from 1995 through 2014. For three years, beginning in 2015, the Flyers co-opted with Maine Girls’ Academy and after that school folded, there was no team in 2018, 2019 or 2020. After co-opting with North Yarmouth Academy in 2021, there was no varsity team in 2022, but the program returned last season and posted a 5-8 mark, getting to the playoffs and losing to Spruce Mountain in the quarterfinals.

This fall, Waynflete started with a 3-0 win at Traip Academy, then, after losses to visiting St. Dom’s (6-0) and host Fryeburg Academy (2-0), the Flyers won at Sacopee Valley (2-0), beat Sacopee Valley at home by the same score, then blanked visiting Wells Wednesday, 2-0.

Traip Academy, meanwhile, had gone in the opposite direction. After falling at home to Waynflete in the opener (3-0), the Rangers defeated host Sacopee Valley (4-0) and host Telstar (4-1), then lost at Wells (2-1), at home to Gray-New Gloucester/North Yarmouth Academy (6-1) and at St. Dom’s (8-0).

Friday, on a warm afternoon (with the temperature in the 70s), the Flyers hoped to beat Traip Academy again, but it wasn’t to be.

Waynflete sophomore Drew Nelson keeps the ball away from Traip Academy junior Lucy Bolanos early in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory Friday. Hoffer photos.

Traip Academy came out strong and on its first penalty corner opportunity, went on top to stay.

The ball came up top to junior Lillian Preston, whose blast was saved by Flyers’ sophomore goalie Mya Clark, but Greenwood got to the rebound and sent it into the cage for a 1-0 lead.

“That was amazing,” said Rangers’ coach Anna Powers. “That was the cleanest corner I’ve seen them do. It’s a new corner and it worked like a charm.”

Waynflete didn’t manage a shot in the first quarter, but had some chances in the second, only to have a shot from freshman Lela Faulkner blocked by a Traip Academy defender and a bid from Hussein saved by Rangers’ sophomore goalie Madison Evans.

Waynflete sophomore Elizabeth Searls races up the field with ball on her stick.

The Flyers earned a corner early in the second half, but couldn’t muster a shot.

After Greenwood and Preston missed just wide, Traip Academy doubled its lead with 3:20 to go in the third period, as French sent a long pass up the field and Varney got free behind the defense. Clark came out to break up the play, but Varney sent the ball between her pads and into the goal to make it 2-0.

“That was a beautiful breakaway,” Powers said. “Eden said she was going to get a goal and she did.”

Late in the quarter, Waynflete earned consecutive penalty corners, but couldn’t convert.

With just 17 seconds to go, Faulkner tried to cut into the deficit, but Evans made the save.

The Flyers made things interesting in the fourth quarter.

With 8:13 to play, Waynflete got the ball into the circle and Hussein passed to Infantine, who fired the ball into the cage to cut the deficit to one.

The Flyers would get a chance to tie the score when they earned a corner with 3:20 to play, but they couldn’t muster a shot and Traip Academy was able to hold on and prevail, 2-1.

“It was really fun,” said Rangers senior defender Cecilia Gagner. “All the girls did really well. I just think we had a lot more energy this time and we had a really good practice yesterday. That gave us momentum moving into this game. We have such a strong team. We’re all super-positive. Our dynamic is fabulous. We were a pretty young team the past couple years. Now we have a lot of strong juniors and seniors.”

“That was nerve-wracking at the end,” Powers said. “I was counting the minutes. The first time we played, they outran us. We’ve been working on conditioning a lot and stick skills and confidence. We broke a four-year losing streak last year and we’ve already won more games than last year.”

Waynflete had a 5-4 edge in shots, got two saves from Clark and had a 5-4 advantage in corners, but fell just short.

“We had opportunities I wish we put away, but we were this close and almost made a comeback,” Schenck lamented. “(Traip) earned that win. They had a well-executed corner and a beautiful breakaway.”

Evans made four saves for the Rangers.

See you soon

Traip Academy is back in action Tuesday at Sacopee Valley, then hosts Waynflete Oct. 7

“We’re trying to make playoffs this year, that’s the big goal,” Powers said.

Waynflete goes to Wells next Thursday, then travels to Traip Academy Oct. 7.

“(Traip’s) a good team and thankfully, we get to play them again,” said Schenck. “Hopefully, we can turn the tables. We’ll learn from this and we’ll get better. Playoffs is the goal. Last year, it was an amazing thing that we wound up in the eight seed. This year, the goal is to get an even higher playoff berth. I’m optimistic.”

Sports Editor Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net.